Audio problems from SoundBlaster 16 CT2770 ISA

[gortmertl0]

Greetings.

While getting my new 486 up to speed, loading all of my old Sierra games, I ran into an interesting problem.

For the following DOS versions of these games:
-- King's Quest 6 (Sierra 15th Anniversary KQ Collector's Edition CD)
-- Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (SierraOriginals CD)

...the Installation choice of SoundBlaster for Audio [not Music] yields poor results.  The speech on FP:FP plays intermittently (<5% of the time -- usually, it's just silence), and the opening movie of KQ6 hangs up just after Alexander's mother enters.

However, the Thunderboard is also supported as an Audio choice, and when I select that, everything is fine for both games.

My question is: why would the SoundBlaster choice not work for Audio on these games when I have an actual SoundBlaster card in my machine?

One of the many quirks of:
(1) Early attempts to combine digital audio with games?
(2) Sierra?
(3) Creative Labs?
(4) DOS 6.0?
(5) MSCDEX?

Thanks for any interest.

[Wodball]

The old Sierra SB drivers were bugged and didn't quite detect 16-bit cards correctly.

To actually use the Soundblaster option, you need to either update the soundblaster driver in the Sierra directory, or you need to patch the driver with GoSierra, which is pretty good at fixing these problems.

But your current solution sounds like it works.

--Woody

[Alistair]

Sounds like a device conflict to me. I have the same thing with, for example, my AWE32 and the GM game (note, KQ6 and FPFP are both GM games of the same Sierra engine also) LSl6. Using Thunderboard iinstead of SB yields results.


- Alistair

[Wodball]

I should have listed my source for this. The solution to the problem you were talking about was listed there (The Thunderboard option), so I thought that the problem was the same. Maybe I interpreted the problem incorrectly, but here's my source information.

http://www.sierraplanet.com/kingsquest6/technical.html

On the patches side, it lists a patch for SB16 cards which addresses a problem about sound effects.

I do have personal experience in fixing up audio problems in Sierra games, but it's been a while since I've been home working on my 486.

Such is the penalty of working so far from home. (As in the other side of the country.)

--Woody

[gortmertl0]

Thank you both for the info.  It was very helpful.

I assumed it was something wiggy with a DOS conflict of some kind, or a variation of the old Sierra Vs. SoundBlaster problem...

G

[Alistair]

No probs, I remember playing LSL6 floppy (one of the first Sierra games I played) and having terrible audio bugs with my AWE32 (device conflict, I realised years later). One day, I changed the audio to ThunderBoard (which has the tick next to it), and never had a problem again!

- Alistair

[gortmertl0]

No probs, I remember playing LSL6 floppy (one of the first Sierra games I played) and having terrible audio bugs with my AWE32 (device conflict, I realised years later). One day, I changed the audio to ThunderBoard (which has the tick next to it), and never had a problem again!

Same here.  I played FP:FP originally on an 8-bit Soundblaster 10+ years ago, and experienced no probs there.

When I installed it a few weeks ago on my SoundBlaster 16, it was terrible.  I even installed the Windows 3.1 version (which ran the audio just fine on the SB16) but I wanted it in its original DOSsy goodness...

So, I took a chance at the Thunderboard (as you said, it had a tick by it), and voila!  Worked fine.  And I promptly uninstalled the Win 3.1 version.  :wink:

Had similar problems with the opening movie of KQ6, so I thought that it was a problem with my system.  The game played OK with Audio, but not the opening movie, so I thought I had a corrupt disc, or something just didn't like my system.  But the Thunderboard option fixed the movie, too.

G